It is the worst air disaster in the history of Swiss civil aviation. 25 years ago, on the night of September 2-3, 1998, a Swissair plane from New York to Geneva crashed off the Canadian coast near Halifax, killing all 229 people on board.
The flight was provided by a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft built in 1991 and named “Vaud”. It took off at 8:18 p.m. from JFK airport in New York, but crashed after two and thirteen hours of flight, eight kilometers off the coast of Nova Scotia (Canada). The 215 passengers from 22 countries and the 14 crew members were killed instantly.
The causes of the fire that caused the crash have not been determined with certainty. An electric arc on an entertainment system cable caused others to start a fire. The fire then spread to thermal and acoustic insulation materials located above the ceiling aft and to the right of the cockpit.
>> Read also: Halifax, September 2, 1998, the worst crash in Swiss aviation
Out of control fire
At the time, no smoke detector or extinguishing device was installed there. The two pilots could therefore only smell or see the fire. By the time they noticed something was burning, it was already too late to bring the fire under control.
The flight instruments stopped working and the pilots, still weakened by the smoke and the heat, lost control of the aircraft which struck the water. This sequence of events was established by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) in a report published on March 27, 2003, after four and a half years of investigations. Canadian authorities have recovered more than 98% of the device, or two million parts.
>> To find out more: The tragedy of Swissair flight SR 111
Where to shock
On the same day, the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) published fifty binding instructions for Swissair’s MD-11s. They have all been applied. Half of these recommendations relate to cabling systems. Others relate to the replacement of PET-covered insulation blankets and crew reading lights.
The announcement of the crash shook all of Switzerland, unaccustomed to this kind of disaster. Only two other Swissair accidents have really marked the spirits.
On September 4, 1963, a burning caravel crashed in Dürrenäsch (AG) killing all 80 passengers and crew. The investigation will reveal that due to the fog on takeoff, the pilot taxied too long and the landing gear caught fire.
>> Read also: SR 111 crash
Previous
On February 21, 1970, a Coronado connecting Zurich to Tel Aviv was the target of a bomb attack. The 47 occupants die after their plane crashes in a forest in Würenlingen (AG). The attack is attributed to Palestinian terrorist groups
Other Swiss companies were also crash victims. In April 1967, after being struck by lightning, a Globe-Air Britannia crashed into a mountain in Nicosia (Cyprus), killing 126 people. In December 1977 in Funchal (Madeira Island), a SATA Super-Caravelle fell into the sea 4 km before the start of the track. Balance sheet: 36 dead and 21 survivors.
ats/hkr
2023-09-02 13:29:34
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